daytrades april 8 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Australian stocks are likely to open lower today after Wall Street was rocked by weak consumer credit data, rising oil inventories, fear of looming interest rate rises and fresh concerns over Greece.

With 10 minutes left to trade this morning, the local June SPI futures contract was down 21 points at 4959 after a choppy session on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 120 points in late trade but partially recovered to close 77 points or 0.66% lower. The broader S&P 500 snapped a three-day winning streak, falling 0.59% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.23%.

Traders were spooked by a call from Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig to raise the federal funds target rate to curb inflation. Hoenig has dissented at the last two Federal Open Market Committee meetings, which set the target rate.

Concerns deepened when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke omitted a reference to holding interest rates lower for an extended period during a speech overnight. Commentators fretted that Bernanke's upbeat tone was intended to soften up the market for pending rate rises.

Consumer borrowing fell by $11.5 billion in February, suggesting Americans are wary of taking on more debt and undermining hopes for a consumer-led recovery. Elsewhere, a Treasury 10-year note auction drew solid demand.

More than three-quarters of shares in the S&P 500 were "overbought" after recent gains, according to a U.S. investment group. That is the highest figure since this bull market began last March.

"Of the last 30 days we've had seven down days, so we're due. If the market gets up to bat 30 times and only misses seven you're going to the Hall of Fame," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co told MarketWatch.

Crude oil closed lower for the first time in seven sessions after a steep rise in U.S. stockpiles. The rise of 2 million barrels last week trumped analysts' expectations of an increase of 1.5 million barrels. Crude futures were recently down $1.15 or 1.3% at $85.69 a barrel.

Gold broke out to its highest level this year as Greek debt woes returned to the spotlight. Greek bonds were crunched overnight over renewed uncertainty about how a joint European-IMF aid package agreed to last month will function. The spot gold price pushed close to $1,155 before falling back to trade recently at $1,149.60 an ounce, up $15.30 or 1.5% on Tuesday's New York close.

Industrial metals prices fell back from recent highs. May copper was off less than 2 cents to $3.59 per pound in New York trade, while three-month contracts dropped $45 to $7,945 per tonne in London, according to metalmarkets.org.uk. Lead fell $10 to $2,290 per tonne in London, aluminium fell $13 to $2,352 per tonne, zinc was $48 lower at $2,400 per tonne and nickel dropped $75 to $24,725 per tonne. Tin added $160 at $18,575 per tonne.

Weak economic data saw the major European markets fallback from recent highs. Britain's FTSE slid 0.32%, Germany's DAX 0.48% and France's CAC 0.67%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

GOLD: On a gloomy night, gold's safe-haven status made it one of the few bright spots. Also helping sentiment was evidence of buying ahead of the tradtional Indian wedding season. Gold stocks tend to get dragged down with the rest of the market on down-days like this, but gold bulls may find any weakness today offers a buying opportunity for the weeks ahead.

PULLBACK?: Overbought indicators have been flashing for some time on global markets. This may be the start of "the pullback we have to have", or just another minor blip in this seemingly endless bull run. Either way, the market could use a shake-up to bring prices back to more appealing entry levels. We should see some profit-taking today, potentially offering bounce-scalping opportunities.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Local unemployment figures are today's highlight, due at 11.30 am. Analysts expect the unemployment rate to hold at 5.3%. Unemployment claims are also the main event in the U.S. tonight, alongside natural gas storage and speeches from various members of the FOMC.


Finally, congratulations to the new posse of sherriffs in town: iPod, Raks, Wink and Siamese Parrot. Moderating is a tough job and it's great to see these talented guys take up the challenge. Well done, fellas.

Good luck to all.